Method of treating cocoa or like fibers.



No. 689,052. Patented Dec. I7, 19!.

' W. H. L. ALFRED.

METHOD OF TREATING 0000A 0B LIKE FIBERS.

(Application filed June 14, 1901.) (No Model.) s Shets-Shaet 1.

No. 689,052. Patented Dec. 17, l90l.

- w. H. L. ALFRED.

METHOD 0! TREATING 0060A 0R LIKE FIBERS.

(Application filed June 14, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

m5 NORRKS pzrsns cc, mormuma. WASHINGTON. a. c.

Patented Dec. l7, I901.

w. H. L. ALFRED. METHOD OF TREATING 0000A 0R LIKE FIBERS.

(Application filed. June 14, 1901.)

(No Model.)

waiZk'vzz JLJy/ed y/vv l UNlTED fiTaTns FATTNT firmer,

\VILLIAM HENRY LAMPERT ALFRED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

METHOD OF TREATHNG COCOA OR LIKE FEBERS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 689,052, dated December'7, 1901- Application filed June 14,1901. Serial No. 64,621. (Nospecimens.)

To Call? whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY LAM- PERT ALFRED, a subject of theKing of Great Britain, residing at 29 Selsdon road, West Norwood,London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inthe Method of Treating Oocoa or Like Fibers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a certain new and useful method of treatingcocoa or like fibers in imitation of curled horsehair for upholstery andlike purposes.

In describing the method in detail reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings, illustrating one form of an apparatus in which my improvedmethod for treating cocoa and like fibers can be carrie'd out.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus.Fig. 2 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of theapparatus. Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation, on anenlarged scale, of the remaining portion of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is aplan of Fig. 4.

To carry out my invention,.I first boil the cocoa or like vegetablefiber, so as to soften it,.and then submit it in bulk while wet and limpto a threshing or beating process, by which the bulk of fiber ispartially dried and disintegrated or broken up into fragments. This iseffected by placing and inclosing the fiber in a cylindrical vessel a,of open wirework or perforated with blades 7) lengthwise around itsinner circumference and revolving slowly, thus lifting the fiber andcausing it to continuously fall upon a paddle or heater with one or morelongitudinal arms 0 revolving upon the same spindle d at a high speed.When thus separated, broken up, and partially dried,the fibeigstillsomewhat damp and limp, is taken out of the drum on by hand through thedoor 6 and laid or fed carefully upon a traveling band f, by which bandit is fed in layers between one or more sets of two heated rollers g h,having lengthwise-fluted or spur-wheel-like surfaces 2'. These rollers gh are driven by power and through the usual cog-wheels j, its teethi'engaging the other roller for engaging the fiber and curling same.These rollers g h are adjustable and pressed together by means ofsprings or weights, so as to sufficiently compress or corrugate thefiber between them, the springs being adj usted in their tension by thehand-screw Z. Instead of the grooving being arranged longitudinally theymay be peripherally arranged around the rollers. The heating of therollers g h is by passing dry air or steam under pressure into therollers by the pipes m n, the heating medium being conveyed from theheating apparatus or boiler, arranged in any part of the building. Toprevent the fiber when passing from between these rollers curling aroundthem, a fixed or movable leader or guide or roller or combp is adapted,whereby the fiber is conducted free of the roller, the rollers with theteeth and grooves longitudinally having at intervals indentations qaround them to about the depth of the grooves, so that the points ofprojecting pins 4" on the guide p will remove all the fiber as it leavesthe rollers to be passed over to a traveling belt t, on which it isdried before being varnished. This belt t is preferably covered by acanopy a, down which the heated air from the pipe o is passed, so thatit is spread out and has action upon the whole of the fiber as it isslowly passing along. From the traveling band 25, in a sufficientlydried condition, the fiber is passed beneath a slowly-driven drum orroller to, having teeth as projecting around its periphery, by which thefiber is grasped, held, and carried beneath the surface of a liquidvarnish contained in a vessel y, placed beneath the drum or roller w, sothat every particle of the fiber is immersed and entirely coated withthe Varnish, and to prevent the fiber dropping from the teeth a: whenbeing carried through I provide a Wire or perforated guide-piece z ofsemicircular form, fixed between the trough or vessel y and the drivendrum or'roller w, the fiber being carried by the teeth w on the rollerto until it rises above the surface of the varnish, when after beingreleased in its course from the teeth a: of the revolving roller 20 itis taken hold of by a spiked roller 1, revolved from the axle of therollers w by belt 2, the roller 1 being provided with perforations,through which a blast or current of air from the pipe 3 passes, and thisin conjunction with the disturbing action given to the fiber by theroller 1 will effectually clear the fiber of superfluous varnish, whichwill run back into the tank y by its slope. The fiber is then passedonto a traveling band 4, covered by a canopy 5, when it is thoroughlydried by hot air from the pipe 6, after which it is discharged onto atable 7, to be packed away ready for export, or the fiber may be finallyrolled or tumbled or combed, so that its curled fibers may be mixed andinterwoven and formed into bulk ready for use.

Instead of employing the canopies u and 5 drying-rooms may be employed,these being separated from the other parts of the building and holesmade in the walls for passage of the fiber.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A method for treating cocoa and like fibers, consisting ofsuccessively softening,

' disintegrating, curling, drying, coating and drying the material.

2. A method for treating cocoa and like fibers, consisting of softeningthe material by boiling it, then disintegrating the material while wetandlimp by threshing or heating it, then curling the disintegratedmaterial, then drying the curled material by hot air, then coating thedried material, then removing the surplus coating, and finally dryingthe coated material.

3. A method for treating cocoa and like fibers, consisting ofsuccessively softening, disintegrating and curling the material, thendrying the curled material by hot air, then coating the curled materialby submerging in a suitable solution, then removing the surplus coating,and then finally drying the material.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM HENRY hAMPER'l ALFRED.

WVitnesses:

WM. 0. BROWN, EDMUND S. SNEWIN.

